


I'll give you that fire (burn, burn, burn)

by sophisticus



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Avatar!Zuko, Based on a Tumblr Post, Multi, My First Work in This Fandom, No beta we post without editing like men, Old!Aang, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, Zuko is the avatar, aang is just a 112 year old man, f yeah zukka rights, the air nation genocide still happened
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-07-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:13:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24764431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophisticus/pseuds/sophisticus
Summary: Air. Water. Earth. Fire. Long ago, the four nations lived in harmony.Well, you know the story.Sokka and Katara discover a boy and a beast frozen in an iceberg down near the Southern Water Tribe, but instead of an airbender and a bison it’s a firebender and a dragon.[This story isn't abandoned but I've switched hyperfixations - I don't know when I'll get back to it, but I fully intend to. Sorry ¯\_(ツ)_/¯]
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 154
Kudos: 629





	1. The Boy in the Iceburg

The story begins the same. Two water tribe teens go fishing, the current smashes their canoe against the ice, Sokka makes an ignorant comment and Katara immediately and understandably loses her temper.

The boy in the iceberg wasn’t aware of any of this. When the ice cracked open, he was completely unconscious. Katara and Sokka almost didn’t see him, actually, but that’s understandable. They were more focused on the enormous red dragon that spilled forth from the newly opened fissure, scales gleaming in the half-sunlight and throwing glittering pink flecks of light across the blue ice.

“Holy shit! Holy shit holy  _ shit,”  _ Sokka stammered, backing away rapidly before tripping and falling on his ass. “Holy shit! Is that a  _ dragon?” _

Katara wasn’t so scared that she fell backwards as well, but she wasn’t far from it. She tightened her grip on Sokka’s war-club and held it up defensively, despite the shaking in her hands. But the dragon’s huge, heavy head just lolled limply onto the ice, followed by the rest of the serpentine body. Behind her she can hear Sokka clambering to his feet, and he stepped forward with his boomerang outstretched. He nudged the dragon’s head, metal scraping against the scales with an unnatural loudness that made their skin crawl. The great beast didn’t even twitch.

“Huh. Is it dead?” he wondered aloud.

Something smaller and dark, first covered by the dragon’s body, caught Katara’s eye and she gasped. “Sokka, there’s someone under there!”

She lunged forward on instinct, dropping the war-club and ignoring Sokka’s sputtering warning about “did you forget the  _ sprits-damned dragon right there??” _ The ‘someone’ turned out to be a teenage boy laying limply in the dragon’s claws, skin shockingly pale in the watery sun. Katara rolled him onto his back and gasped in horror. Beside her, Sokka sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth as well. “Tui and La,” he swore in a low voice. “Is he even alive?”

“He’s breathing, but this...we need to get him to a healer.” Katara gingerly brushed back the hair from the boy’s forehead, away from the huge, horrific burn over the left eye. She was no healer herself, but she could tell it was fresh - the skin still furious red and weeping, swollen shut over the eye. Was the dampness of his skin from fever, or from snowmelt? Either way, the thin, short-sleeved clothes - with unmistakable reds and golds - that he was wearing weren’t gonna protect him from the cold for long.

Sokka spotted the clothing at the same time. “That’s fire nation clothes!” he exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at the boy, while keeping a wary eye on the motionless dragon. “He’s a fire nation spy, maybe even a firebender!”

“I know,” Katara retorted tersely, “I have  _ eyes, _ Sokka, but if we don’t get him some help then he might lose his. Or even die.”

“Like that would be a loss,” Sokka muttered, ignoring the venomous glare his sister shot him. “You haven’t forgot-”

“No, I haven’t forgotten what happened to mom,” she interrupted. “But this boy didn’t do that. We can’t let him die, just because he  _ might  _ be fire nation.”

“So what do you suggest? If you don’t remember, our canoe is kindling,” Sokka said, gesturing dramatically behind them. On the other side of their chunk of ice, the destroyed canoe pieces clunked against the ice from the lapping waves. “How are you and I gonna get home, never mind hauling Mr. Unconscious Mystery Fire Nation Man along with us?”

“I don’t know, okay!?” Katara snapped. She resisted the urge to drag the hands down her face, instead taking a deep, steadying breath. “First let’s get him warm. At least his clothes aren’t wet.”

Sokka watched distrustfully as she tugged the boy free of the dragon’s claws. Katara shrugged off her heavy fur coat and draped it across the boy’s body as well as she could. “Oh sure, it’s fine for  _ you _ to get frostbite, but spirits forbid Mr. Unconscious Mystery Fire Nation Man gets a cold,” he griped. Still, he put away his boomerang and knelt to pick up the war-club Katara had dropped.

“Quit calling him that,” Katara said without looking at him. “Come on, we’re not too far out from the ice shelf. We can skip across the floes and walk back to the village.”

“Skip across the floes while carrying an unconscious guy both taller and heavier than both of us. Oh, and he also could wake up and firebend at us at literally any time.”

“I didn’t ask for reasons we  _ can’t _ do this.”

“I’m just being realistic! We’re already pretty hard out of luck here, Katara, I don’t see any reason for us to make this harder on ourselves than we have to,” Sokka pointed out. Katara huffed a frustrated breath, but she knew he was right.

Still, she stuck out her jaw stubbornly, sliding her hands under the boy to prop him upright. Tui and La, the guy was  _ heavy _ . “I’m not giving up on him. It’s not right to not help someone just because it’s  _ hard. _ I’ll carry him back to the village myself if I have to.”

Sokka’s hand on her shoulder stilled her efforts. “I know. I’m not gonna leave you to that alone. Come on, let’s see if we can salvage any wood from the canoe. Maybe we can make a sled to pull him on,” he offered, smiling a little. Katara smiled in return and put a hand over his.

“Thanks, Sokka.”

\---

It took a lot longer than either of them would’ve liked, but they managed to get the unconscious boy to the village. Katara was almost glad she wasn’t wearing her overcoat, she’d worked up a sweat dragging him on the makeshift sled across the tundra. Thank Tui and La that the sun was out and the wind was down. Honestly, this was about the best that the situation could’ve turned out for them, canoe aside.

By the time Katara and Sokka staggered into the village with the mystery boy in tow, said boy was still unconscious but now full-on shivering, even under Sokka’s coat.

(Sokka had relented once they’d gotten the boy onto the sled, “At least wear your coat. He can use mine, if you’re so determined to keep him warm.”)

Gran-gran whisked the boy into the healer’s tent, a couple of the adult women taking over pulling the sled. Sokka and Katara collapsed by the main fire in the center of the village, arms and legs shaking. “Spirits,” Sokka gasped, slumping against the stone well of the fire pit. “I haven’t hurt so bad since that time I fell through the ice.”

Katara snorted, but she was just as short of breath. “Even including the time you broke your arm while lionseal hunting with dad?”

“I didn’t  _ break my arm,  _ I sprained my wrist. Big difference.”

“Oh sure, then Kara is just dumb, then. She couldn’t  _ possibly _ know the difference between a break and a sprain,” Katara said dryly.

“Listen, just because Kara is a healer doesn’t mean she’s right about everything,” Sokka said defensively. 

Katara just shook her head and forced her aching body to stand. “I’m going to go check on him. That burn on his face...I want to make sure he's okay."

Sokka waved her away. “He’s fire nation, I bet he was reckless with his firebending and burned himself.”

“How can you be so callous!? He could lose his eye!” She huffed at his eye roll and stormed off.. “Stay here, then. Jerk.”

Inside the healer’s tent, Kara bent over the boy, examining his face closely. She looked up as Katara ducked into the tent and tutted disapprovingly. “Gran-gran told me you found him out in the ice floes. I don’t suppose you know what happened to him, do you?” she asked briskly, setting a damp washcloth on the boy's forehead.

Katara shook her head. “No, he was like that when we found him. He was  _ inside _ an iceberg, with a  _ dragon _ . Sokka and I think the dragon is dead, but he,” she gestured at the boy, “was still breathing. I couldn’t just leave him there.”

Her eyebrows shot up at the word ‘dragon’, but otherwise the healer just grimaced. “Hmph. Well, I sure hope you know what you were doing. I don’t suppose you thought if it were wise to bring the young fire nation man here?” Kara grumped. Katara opened her mouth to argue, but was cut off. “Ah, I suppose it doesn’t matter. He’s not gonna be doing much harm to anybody for a while, fire nation or no.”

“Is he gonna be okay?” Katara asked softly. Up close again, she could see the sheen of sweat on his skin and hear his shallow, raspy breathing. “That burn...it’s horrifying.”

Kara sighed, reaching over and digging around in a small box. She pulled out some herbs and a mortar and pestle, and began grinding them together. “He’s got a fever. Luckily enough, being out in the snow kept him cool enough to survive until now. I can’t tell yet if his eye is salvageable, but first we must combat the rising infection.”

“Can I help?”

“No, just stay out of the way.” Kara set the pestle aside and dipped her fingertip into the poultice. "This should help fight the infection and soothe the swelling."

Katara sat near the wall of the tent, drawing up her knees to her chest as she watched. Kara leaned in close and dabbed the first bit of poultice on the burn.

The boy's good eye flew open, and the tent filled with blinding white light.

\---

Sokka finally pulled himself upright. He still ached, sure, but now he was more thirsty than anything else. He had a spare canteen in his tent, he was pretty sure-

He went flying across the ice almost before registering the cracking and crashing of tents or the blast of hot wind -  _ hot _ wind?? - that threw him. Sokka bared his teeth and scrambled to get his feet under him. All around, he could hear confused and terrified screams as more tents cracked, blown over by the gale suddenly dropped out of the still-clear sky. What the hell was going on??

"Katara!" Sokka bellowed. "Katara!! Where are you!?"

A scrap of a tent flew right as his head and he raised an arm to block it. When he looked again, eyes squinting in the hot blast of air -

"Mystery Fire Nation Man?" The unconscious guyteen they'd found in the iceberg was no longer unconscious and stood facing away in the center of the storm, hair and clothes whipped by the wind but otherwise untouched. On the other side, kneeling on the ice among the ruins of the healers tent, Katara stared up at the boy with eyes as wide as giant snowballcrabs. The ice cracked underneath them, and balls of flames - bright, bruising red and yellow against the cool blue of the ice - flared to life at the man's hands.

Sokka didn't wait - he charged, war-club held high. He didn't make much headway against the wind, and much later on he would say that it was a good thing. Right now however, he watched in horror as Katara stood and threw herself at the other boy, heedless of the blasting wind and crumbling ice and handfuls of fucking fire.

"Katara what are you  _ doing!?  _ Get away from him!" Sokka screamed.

He could barely hear her over the wind. "I knew you weren't gone! I knew it! You're here to save us! But you have to stop now!" Katara leaned back from where she'd flung her arms around the man's middle. "You've got to calm down. Okay?"

Sokka circled around, and when the guy's face came into view he felt his blood chill. The guy's single good eye was wide open, the entire thing  _ glowing _ with an otherworldly bright blue-white light. He didn't know if it was due to Katara's words, but the wind seemed to die down just a bit, and the flames in the guy's hands definitely shrank.

"I don't know if this is because we touched your hurt eye, but if it is I'm sorry! We knew you were hurt and are trying to help you. You're sick, we're trying to stop your fever and heal your burn. But you have to calm down, okay?" Katara continued calmly. Her words were clearer now that the wind had died to a brisk breeze. The light in the guy's eye flickered, and the fire in his hands died completely.

"Katara you need to step back. We don't know what the hell this guy is gonna do next," Sokka warned in a low voice. He adjusted his grip on the club, and slowly extended his other hand towards his sister. He could see other people from the village from the corner of his eye - women and children and the elderly, all terrified of more destruction. He had to keep them safe, but first he had to save Katara. "Step away from him nice and slow. I'll take care of him."

"Sokka,  _ no.  _ You can't." Katara kept her voice even. The light flickered in the guy's eye, then disappeared as his eye closed again. He swayed on the spot, and Katara barely had time to move to catch him as he collapsed with a groan.

For one heartbeat, two, three, nothing moved. Then: "What the HELL was that!?" Sokka exclaimed. "He's possessed by a spirit or something!"

All around, the handful of villagers slowly appeared, peeking around ruined tents and collapsed snow drifts. Katara carefully lowered the boy down, half on the snow and half on her lap. "He's not possessed," she shot back, "he's-"

"That boy is a danger to us all." Gran-gran stepped forward, her deeply lined face grim. "I don't know who or what he is, but he cannot be allowed to stay."

"Gran-gran, he's sick," Katara protested. "Besides, he-"

"No!" Gran-gran interrupted fiercely. "We do not have warriors! We do not have protectors! We can barely support ourselves, never mind defend against a firebender, or whatever he is. He must leave."

Sokka put a hand on Katara's shoulder. She still cradled the boy's head in her lap, curling around him protectively. Frustrated tears welled in her eyes as she looked back and forth between her brother and grandmother pleadingly. "Don’t you realize who he  _ is?" _

Sokka opened his mouth - to scold her or comfort her, he wasn't sure - but never got that far. A distant roar echoed across the ice, silencing all movement in the village, coming from the direction of where they'd found the boy. Both siblings felt their blood run cold at the sound.

"Hey, Katara? You made sure the dragon was dead, right?" Sokka said casually, as if his still-sore legs hadn't gone loose like jellyfishslugs at the sound. Katara's head whipped around as she pinned him with an incredulous look.

" _ I  _ made sure!? You're the one who jabbed it with your boomerang!" she retorted hotly. 

Beside them, Gran-gran looked like she was about to faint. "The  _ what?" _

A second roar, this time much closer and much angrier than the first, bellowed across the ice. To the west, briefly blotting out the late afternoon sun, rose the huge serpentine form of the red dragon that had been holding the boy in his claws...now alive and furious.

"EVERYONE TAKE COVER!!" Sokka bellowed. As if a spell had been broken, chaos erupted. Mothers grabbed crying children and bolted to the main igloo, and everyone else helped the few elderly folks hustle along. And still, Katara refused to let go of the boy in her lap.

"Katara, you must run," Gran-gran urged. "You can't-"

"I can't leave him!" Katara shouted back. "He's the-"

For the second time in two minutes, Sokka was blasted away by an overwhelming blast of hot air, though this time he lunged at Gran-gran to protect her with his own body. He landed on the ice with a grunt and let her land on top of him, as the full weight of the dragon hit the ice with a  _ crunch _ . Heat radiated off the beast's body hotter than any bonfire, and Sokka turned just as the dragon's head came level with his own; the huge, slitted golden eye held his entire being in that spot, sending a shudder down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold.

Living in the icy tundra of the south pole was by no means an easy life, and his parents had taught him and Katara early on that if they weren't careful - and even if they were - the harsh territory could snuff him out like a candle in a gale. To survive, you had to be predator rather than prey. Sokka had been the predator more times than he could count, usually to fish. Now, for the first time in his life, he fell absolutely and solidly within the category of prey.

The dragon snorted and looked away, and the spell was broken. Its claws, each easily the length of his hand, scraped horribly on the ice as it turned. The massive wings whipped out once more and dropped, billowing air underneath with a  _ boom. _ The beast's back arched and it lifted off from the ice once more.

A terrified scream ripped the air. Sokka’s head whipped around to track the familiar voice, heart dropping to his stomach. “Katara!!”

Katara hung suspended in the air, clutched by the claws of the dragon alongside the mystery guy. Sokka barely glimpsed her wide-eyed expression before the dragon turned midair and took off back the direction it had come, Katara and mystery guy with it.

Other people around him were shouting and crying, but Sokka tuned it all out and kept his eyes on the clawed leg clutching his sister. Careful calculations ran through his mind, wind speed and distance and direction - and the boomerang whipped through the air. He held his breath as the weapon arched, glinting in the sun; it changed direction as if by magic, just as he’d known it would, and soared right at the dragon’s ankle -

The dragon snapped its tail around and smacked the boomerang out of the air just before it reached. Sokka watched in dismay as the boomerang landed in the snow in front of his feet, upright and quivering. “Spirits,” he swore under his breath. When he looked back up, the dragon had shrank to just a red streak, which quickly vanished over the craggy ice outcroppings of the horizon.

The moment they disappeared, Sokka jerked back around to face the village. “Is anybody hurt?” he called out, his voice automatically dropping into the authoritative tone he usually took when training the younger children to fight and protect. “Is everyone okay? Gran-gran, are you alright?”

He carefully helped his grandmother to her feet. Apart from being pale with shock, and a shallow scratch on her cheek, she seemed alright. She clutched his arm tightly. “Katara,” she rasped, eyes wide with fear. “That thing took Katara-”

“I know.” Sokka took her hands in his - so thin, but still full of strength. “Gran-gran...I have to...I’m sorry, I have to go save Katara, even though it means leaving you all here. I said I’d defend you all since dad and Bato and them left, but she’s my  _ sister _ and-”

Gran-gran’s hand on his cheek stopped his rambling short. She gave him an uncharacteristically gentle smile. “Go,” she said, pulling him down so their foreheads touched. “We’ll be alright. Go get Katara and bring her home safe.”

Sokka sniffed, but managed a smile in return. “Okay. I love you, Gran-gran.”

She pinched his cheek. “Go show that overgrown possumlizard how the Southern Water Tribe does things,” she said fiercely.


	2. The Avatar Returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edits:  
> 7/13/20: changed chapter title

“Let-” Katara whacked the dragon’s foot as hard as she could. No response. “Me-”  _ Whack!  _ No response. “Go!!”

_ Whack!  _ The dragon’s grip didn’t loosen its grip, but it did snort and wiggle. She looked up in time for the dragon’s head to drop, hanging upside down to stare at her even as it kept flying. She froze as the huge golden eye fixed on her, pupils drawn to slits in the afternoon sunlight. The dragon snorted again, and Katara sputtered and coughed as smoke briefly engulfed her and the mystery boy. The dragon gave a series of short grunts that sounded almost like laughter as it lifted its head to look forwards once again.

Katara twisted in the clawed grip, trying to pry it open - nevermind the fact they were a hundred feet off the ground - and the unconscious boy groaned as she accidentally jabbed her elbow hard into the center of his chest.

"Sorry," she said automatically. The boy shifted under her and lifted his head, blinking his one good eye blearily in the afternoon sun. "Hey! Are you awake? The dragon we found you with, it grabbed us and flew off!"

"Druk?" The boy mumbled, barely audible over the whistling wind. Katara's brows pulled together. Oh no, he must've hit his head, and now he was talking nonsense.

"Hang on, I'm gonna get us out of this. I promise." Katara twisted around and slammed her fist down on the dragon's leg again. "Hey you big ugly possumlizard! Let us go!"

The dragon did not let them go, but it did twist around to shoot Katara another inscrutable look. It huffed another plume of smoke, and before she could protest the dragon had plucked the semi-conscious boy out from under her, so that it now held one of them in each of its front claws. She realized what was going to happen a full second before it actually happened: one moment she was clutched in the dragon's scaly claw, and the next she was plummeting towards the ice.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaagggghhhh!!!" Katara squeezed her eyes shut against the painfully icy air blasting past her. On instinct, she reached out to the rapidly approaching ice, clenched her fist and  _ pulled _ -

The tundra yielded to her will, and if she'd had her eyes open she would've seen the ice swell and rise up to greet her; no longer ice but a cushioning pile of snow. The breath still knocked out of her when she landed, but she much preferred having to gasp for breath instead of suffering from broken bones. "Ah, shit," she groaned.

The ice and snow behind her shook, and when she opened her eyes the dragon's head was  _ right there,  _ staring down at her as if to ask why she was just laying around in a pile of snow when there were things to do. Katara glared up at it.

"This is all your fault, you stupid lizard," she told it crossley. It snorted, its hot breath washing over her and melting the snow a little. "We were going to heal him, but now the infection in that burn might spread. I bet you were hunting him and burned him yourself. You don't even know how important he is, do you?"

If it were possible for a dragon to look offended, it did. The scaly face creased as it gave her an incredulous look and another huff of hot air. She sat up and placed her hand on its snout, right between the nostrils - ignoring the shaking of her arm - and shoved the dragon's head away.

"I don't know what you want with him, but I won't let you," Katara snapped, clambering out of her snowdrift. "He's the Avatar, I can't let you eat him."

"He's not going to eat me."

Katara jumped at the new voice. The dragon lifted one of its wings to reveal the boy she and Sokka had found in the ice, now awake and upright, even if he had to lean heavily on the dragon's scaly side to stay up. He glared at her. "You're awake," Katara gasped. She reached out for him on instinct. The boy flinched, and she froze. "You're burned, badly," she said, dropping her outstretched hand a little.

"I  _ know _ ," the boy snapped. He reached up a hand to gingerly touch the burn, and hissed with pain. He glanced around with his good eye, seemingly taking in his surroundings for the first time. "Where am I?" he said sharply, wrapping his arms tightly around himself to ward off the cold. He leaned up against the dragon's flank. "Why did you take me here?"

"Don't ask me, ask the dragon!" She pointed at the dragon in question, who shook its head like a polar bear dog. "He grabbed us both and took us way out here!"

"I don't…" The teen's brow crinkled in visible confusion. "Why? Druk, where did you take me?"

"Druk? That's what you said earlier, is that-?" Katara cut off as the dragon moved its head closer to her, staring at her with one of it's great yellow eyes. It blinked lazily, and the light clicked on in her mind. "Oh! Your name is Druk?"

Druk huffed in affirmation. She tentatively reached out to touch him, but jerked back when the teen stepped forward. "Move," he snapped. "I'm getting out of here."

"No, wait!" She grabbed his arm. "You're the Avatar, you have to save us and stop the war! Besides, you're hurt, you need to come back and let us take care of your eye."

He jerked his arm free from her grasp, refusing to meet her stare. "I'm fine. I need to go back home, to- what war?"

Katara stared at him blankly. "The...war? The fire nation taking over the world?" The teen stared right back, good eye wide - the same golden color as Druk's, she noted in the back of her mind. "Do you...not know about the war?"

"We're not taking over the world," the boy blurted out. His hand automatically reached up to touch his burn, but stopped just shy of it. "We're on good terms with the other nations. The Fire Lord-"

"Is a monster," Katara finished hotly. The boy's eye narrowed dangerously. "His armies have ravaged the world. His soldiers have killed  _ hundreds,  _ including my mother. I assure you, there  _ is _ a war going on."

The boy flinched, but stayed silent.

"Since you're the Avatar, it's your duty to bring balance-"

"You don't know anything about me," he interrupted. Puffs of flame shot out from his clenched fists, and Katara took a step back instinctively. "I'm not-"

"You are! Back there, you firebent  _ and  _ waterbent  _ and _ airbent. If there were stone, you would've earthbent too!"

"I know!" The boy's shout echoed across the ice. "I know, okay? I just found out a day or two ago and I don't know what to do and then my father tried to k-"

He cut himself off, breathing heavily. A puff of flame curled out of his lips, and then he was calm again.

"I haven't seen any war, and I'm not some kind of savior," he said coldly. "I'm going home. There are things I need to take care of."

The boy climbed up on Druk's back between two spikes, visibly shivering. "Come on, Druk," he ordered, clutching the spike in front of him. The dragon didn't move. "Hey, are you listening? Take off. We need to go home."

Druk snorted, and Katara could swear she saw a knowing glint in the dragon's eye before it rolled over onto its side. The boy fell into the snow with a shout and a grunt.

"Listen, I don't know what rock you've been living under, but I can  _ prove _ that the fire nation is trying to take over the world." Katara held out a hand, which the boy swatted aside. "But first you need to come back to the village. You need healing for your eye."

He climbed to his feet, eyeing her warily. Despite his clear distrust, she could see he was too cold and in too much pain to be obstinate for much longer. "What proof?" he said finally.

\---

Really, Sokka thought to himself, things couldn't get much worse.

His sister had been kidnapped by a  _ dragon _ , after finding some mystery fire nation guy who'd gone ballistic and almost destroyed half the village. Now Sokka was setting out just an hour from sundown, when the night would be deadly cold, and he didn't have anything to go off of besides the direction that the - again, for emphasis -  _ spirits damned DRAGON _ had flown off.

And now, he was hungry.

"Tui and La," Sokka groaned to himself, adjusting the pack on his back as he trudged through the snow, "I know the food is for Katara too but I'm  _ starving. _ "

Predictably, no answer came from anything. He sighed dramatically.

"This is fine. I've got two sleeping bags, two coats, and enough food for two people for a couple days," he said aloud. "I'll find Katara before sundown, and we'll make an igloo for the night, and then we'll head back home first thing in the morning. Simple."

Once more, the only answer was the faint whistle of wind over ice crags. Sokka sighed again, sincerely this time. "Spirits. I hope you're okay, Katara."

\---

Katara and the boy stared up at the frosted hull of the fire nation ship, still suspended in the ice that thrust up underneath it - tangible evidence of the fight the waterbenders had put up years and years ago at the beginning of the war. "This has been here for decades," Katara said quietly. "My Gran-gran was a little girl when the waterbenders did this while fighting off the first wave of the invasion. We're forbidden from coming inside, it's supposed to be booby trapped, so this is as far as I've ever come."

The boy's face twisted as he stared up at the dark, hulking shape. "This alone doesn't prove anything," he snapped. Beside him, Druk rumbled uneasily, and the boy ran a soothing hand along his side.

Katara shot the boy a glare. "Okay, then we'll go inside. You're fire nation, right? You'll be able to tell if it's a real fire nation navy ship or not. Druk," she said, turning to face the dragon, "can you take us up to the deck?"

The boy was shaking his head before she even finished speaking. "He doesn't listen to anybody but me-"

Druk bent his head down, allowing Katara to climb up just like she'd seen the boy do earlier. The boy gaped at him, and the dragon made that peculiar rhythmic grunting noise again.

"Don't you laugh at me," the boy said incredulously. "Why are you suddenly being so nice to her?"

"Because  _ I'm  _ nice," Katara answered smugly. "Now are you coming with us or not?"

The boy's expression turned even more sour, but he climbed onto Druk's back as well. The dragon barely let him get settled before those great red wings unfurled, and they rocketed up into the air.

The two of them clambered down onto the deck, the metal dinging hollowly beneath their feet. "There," Katara said, pointing at a dark doorway. "That must lead below decks."

"I know how the ships are laid out," the boy snapped. She swallowed the urge to smack him on the side of the head and let him lead the way, leaving Druk behind on the deck.

Katara only flinched slightly when he turned his palm upward to hold a flame large enough to illuminate the way. The ship was dead silent around them, all the various pipes frosted over. The flame illuminated the cloud of their breath with gold as they descended, turning right, left, left, right, left.

"So, what's your name?" she asked, breaking the silence. The boy turned to squint at her suspiciously with his good eye.

"Why do you want to know?"

"So I can call you something other than 'hey you'. Sokka called you Mr. Unconscious Mystery Fire Nation Man, which was just stupid. And I figure you don't just want me just calling you Avatar," she answered, ticking off on her fingers.

The boy grunted and fell silent for a moment, long enough that she thought he wasn't going to answer, until- "Zuko."

"Zuko?"

"My name is Zuko," he repeated. He turned to glance back at her. "You haven't told me your name. Or why you're following me around, shouting at me."

Katara flushed with embarrassment. "Katara," she mumbled. "My brother Sokka and I found you and Druk in the ice. When we saw you were hurt, we took you back to our village. You woke up after that and started wrecking everything, and your eyes were  _ glowing _ . When I saw you were air and water bending too, I knew who you were."

Zuko's frown deepened as she spoke. "And we ended up in the middle of nowhere because…?"

"Druk must've woken up after we took you. After you'd calmed down, he flew to the village and grabbed us both, then flew all the way out here." Katara peered down another hallway, cold and dark and still like the others. "That's when you woke up a bit ago."

"After you elbowed me."

She winced. "Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's fine. Compared to my eye, it didn't even sting really," Zuko said, absentmindedly rubbing his chest with his free hand. "Did I...hurt anybody? In your village?"

Katara dropped her gaze. "I don't know."

The two teens fell silent. Their footsteps echoed hollowly along the metal hall, all frozen and frosted even this deep in the ship's belly.

"Does your eye still hurt?" she asked after a second.

Zuko gave a noncommittal grunt. "Not as much as it should."

Katara frowned. "The burn must be deep enough that it killed some nerves. How did it happen?"

He turned one more corner. "This should be the helm," he said shortly instead of answering. She eyed him curiously, but let the subject drop...for now. "They should have any records in here of this war you're talking about."

Katara stepped past him, and Zuko lifted his hand so the fire light spread through the whole room. The flames made the shadows flicker and jump, seeming far more alive and menacing than shadows usually were. "I promise you, the war is really happening. I don't know how you could possibly be unaware of it at  _ all _ . Aren't you from the fire nation?"

"Yes I'm from the fire nation, we've been over this," Zuko said testily, watching her dig through cabinets. "I'm literally firebending right in front of you. I know that m- the Fire Lord isn't the friendliest, but you're trying to tell me that he's trying to take over the world. That isn't the firelord I know."

"Maybe you don't know him as well as you think." Katara skimmed through another scroll and set it aside, pulling out another. "Ah, here. Orders from their commander to attack the Southern Water Tribe, on the orders of the last Fire Lord, look."

She held it up so Zuko could see. His one good eye flicked back and forth, reading the scrawl, and the further along he went the more confused he looked. "This can't be real," he said finally, jabbing a finger at one of the lines. "Azulon couldn't have given this order."

"What do you mean? He literally did, this whole ship is left from it!" Katara flung her arms wide. "Why won't you admit you were wrong?"

"Azulon couldn't have done this, he's just a kid," Zuko retorted. Despite his denial, she could see the seed of doubt in his eye. "I don't understand. How could...what is all this?"

Katara felt her stomach drop as a thought occurred to her. "Zuko...how long were you in that iceberg?" she said quietly.

His head whipped around to stare at her. "I...don't know," he admitted. "A couple days? Maybe a week? It couldn't have been longer, I wouldn't have survived for that long."

"Are you sure?" Katara rolled the scroll back up. "As far as you know, how old is Azulon?"

"Nine," he answered automatically.

She nodded. "And who is the current Fire Lord?"

"...Sozin," Zuko said, eye narrowed. Katara took in a deep breath and set the scroll aside. Tui and La, this was going to be hard.

"Zuko, the current fire lord is Fire Lord Ozai," she said softly. He stared at her as if she'd begun speaking another language, one that caused him physical pain. "Azulon was the last fire lord. He died over ten years ago, I think. He passed the throne on to his son. Azulon and Ozai have continued the war that Sozin began a century ago."

She waited patiently for this information to sink in. Zuko stood there, pale and silent, emotions flickering across his face. The fire in his hand sputtered frantically as he swallowed hard, then opened his mouth and closed it again. He did this a couple times before closing his fist, snuffing out the flame and plunging them into darkness.

Katara yelped. “Zuko!? I can’t see!”

The only answer was a soft thud, and for a moment she was terrified he’d run out of the room and left her behind in the dark, until from the floor came a soft, “A  _ century.” _

He’d sat on the floor. Katara lowered herself down as well, fighting off a shiver as she sat on the metal floor. “I’m sorry,” she said sincerely. “This must be a lot to take in.”

Zuko didn’t say anything, but flames flickered to life again in his palm to throw light over the old, cold, frost-covered room. His other hand reached up to lightly touch the edge of the burn on his face, flinching as he did. “Will...do you think your village will still help me after I wrecked it earlier?” he asked.

Katara smiled gently and laid a hand on his shoulder. To her surprise, he didn’t pull away. “I’ll talk to them. Come on.”


	3. Beginning a New Journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kind comments! Sorry this chapter took a little longer than the last one, my girlfriend and I moved across the country and it was crazy, but we're settled now so here ya go!
> 
> Edits:  
> 7/13/20: changed chapter title

The trek back to the deck of the ship took even longer than the descent. Since neither of them had been wearing a coat when they'd 'left' the village, the two teens' shivering had become almost painful by this point, and Zuko reluctantly held out the handful of fire for Katara to stay near. It helped...a little. "Druk can help us stay warm once we're back outside," Zuko admitted in a grumble. "Since he's a dragon, he always runs really hot. It's been really useful the couple of times I've been to cold climates, but it's almost too much in the summer."

"I can only imagine. Summers here are probably not as warm as you're used to." Katara jammed her fingers deep into her armpits. "It's almost warm enough to be comfortable without my furs."

Zuko snorted. "Does the ice even melt?"

"Not really, no."

"Summer in the fire nation is sweltering. It's on the equator,  _ and  _ the capitol is built into the caldera of a volcano," he explained, tracing into the air the shape of the volcano and caldera with his finger.

"Sounds toasty." They made another turn in the dark hall. Katara gave him a glance. "Do you miss it?"

"I've been gone for a century. I should miss it, I suppose. For me, we were there just yesterday." He frowned again. Frowning seemed to be his default expression.

Katara hummed thoughtfully. Before she could respond, however, a deep and  _ loud _ metallic clang echoed through the hall. They both yelped and jumped a foot in the air, falling into defensive stances. "What in Agni's name was that??" Zuko demanded.

"It came from above. Maybe it was Druk shifting?" Katara suggested. Another clang echoed out, softer than the first, followed by a horrific metallic screech that made her skin crawl.

"That's not shifting." Zuko took off at a run and Katara bolted after to keep from being left in the dark belly of the ship. Right, left, right, up the stairs-

They staggered out into the blinding gold and red sunset, shielding their eyes. Druk had his back to them, hunched over something, and at the sound of their footsteps on the deck, his huge head swung around to stare at them. His golden eyes were dilated, so different from the slits Katara had seen so far.

"Are you giving up already?? That's what I thought, you damn overgrown possumlizard," a familiar voice hollered. "You'd better run, because you have  _ no  _ idea what's coming for you once I get up and get my boomerang!!"

"Sokka??" Katara ran around Druk eagerly. Sure enough her brother had been laid out on his back, arched back uncomfortably over the pack underneath him and pinned down by Druk's massive foot. Despite the razor sharp, hand-sized claws on either side of his head, Sokka's face lit up when he spotted her.

"Katara! Thank Tui you're alive! Are you okay? Did this thing hurt you? The dragon grabbed you and I couldn't stop it, I'm so sorry-"

"I'm fine, I promise," she said with a smile. She patted Druk's flank. "Druk, let him up, he's not going to hurt you."

"Druk??" Sokka said incredulously. Druk withdrew his foot, and he sat up with a wince. "Don't tell me you befriended the damn  _ dragon  _ that kidnapped you!"

"I befriended the dragon," she replied. "But listen, there's something you need to know."

Sokka glanced around. "Where's Mr. Unconscious Mystery Fire Nation Man?"

"Ugh, you weren't actually joking about that nickname?" Zuko stepped forward, arms crossed defensively across his chest. "This is your brother, I assume."

Sokka leapt to his feet, pointing at him. "You! You're awake!"

"Yes, you two are definitely siblings."

"Sokka, this is Zuko," Katara said. "Listen, we need to tell you what's happened. There's something important you need to know."

...

A short few minutes later, Sokka had been brought up to speed and was appropriately astonished. "You went under before the war started?? So you're, what, a hundred years old?"

"I'm sixteen," Zuko retorted defensively.

"So a hundred and sixteen. Congrats, grandpa."

"Sokka, focus please." Katara rubbed her temples. The three of them and Druk had settled on the leeward side of the ship, protected from the night wind. Druk had curled up in a tight circle with the three teens huddled together in the center. It was still cold, sure, but with Druk's amazing body heat and the supplies Sokka had brought, it wasn't too bad. "Were you listening at all?"

"Of course I was listening. Zuko here is a hundred and sixteen year old man," Sokka said blithely.

"Ugh! You're impossible." Katara turned away, facing Zuko. "So we need to figure out what we're going to do next. First, obviously, we need a healer to take a look at your eye-"

"Hold on, what do you mean 'we'?" Zuko interrupted.

"We're coming with you," she said as if it were obvious.

"Excuse me? We??" Sokka blurted out. "Why am I getting dragged into this?"

"You need to learn all four bending styles, so at some point you'll be going to the Northern Water Tribe to learn waterbending," Katara continued, ignoring Sokka completely.

"...I suppose." Zuko squinted at them both through the rapidly falling dark. "What does that have to do with you two?"

"Oh wait, I get it. I  _ get it."  _ Sokka shook his head in exasperation. "Katara is a waterbender. She wants to find a master too. Of course."

Zuko frowned. "Why can't you just ask one of the southern water benders to teach you?" he pointed out.

Katara's face fell and Sokka scowled. Zuko looked back and forth between them, heart sinking.

"Is it because of the Fire Nation attack?" he said finally.

"Which one?" Sokka said bitterly. "They attacked us hundreds of times over the last century, systematically weakening us. They took or killed every single waterbender we had down here, and killed anybody who stood in their way. And now, three years ago all of our warriors left to join the battlefront. I'm the only warrior this place has left. The fire nation has taken  _ everything  _ from us."

The blood drained from Zuko's face as he listened, perfectly still except for a faint tremble in his clenched fists. "I see."

"But the Northern Water Tribe has held out against the Fire Nation, as far as we know," Katara continued. She gave a forced smile. "If we went there, we could both learn waterbending together!"

"And where does that leave me?" Sokka demanded. "Why should I come?"

"Well, you're my brother. I can't really see myself going on such a long journey without you," Katara said earnestly. "I really hope you'll come with us. Please?"

Zuko watched, fist clenching and unclenching off to the side, as Sokka blushed red and stammered out something about "well, he could hardly let his baby sister go off on some dangerous escapade across the world without him, now could he."

"Listen, I don't even want to be the Avatar in the first place," Zuko interrupted. Sokka and Katara turned to look at him. "I never asked for this. I just want to go home and get back to my normal life."

"But...your home isn't the way it was," Sokka said hesitantly, glancing at Katara for confirmation. "The fire nation - the whole world, really - has changed a lot in the last hundred years."

"Please don't abandon us," Katara said softly. "I know you haven't really seen anything but ice since waking up, but the world needs you."

Sokka clapped a hand down on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko glanced down at the hand, and Sokka awkwardly withdrew it. "What if we proved it to you?" he offered.

"Proved what, that there is a war going on? You did that with this ship," Zuko said, featuring past Druk at the great hulking black shape of the old fire nation ship. 

Sokka shook his head. "No, I mean, go somewhere that has some real battle scars. Did Katara tell you about the air nomads yet?"

"The air nomads? What about them?"

Sokka and Katara exchanged a grim look that just made Zuko's heart sink lower in his chest. "Will you come with us to the Southern Air Temple?" Sokka asked. "With your dragon, we should be able to reach it. You'll be able to see the consequences of this war for yourself, and if you still want nothing to do with it, then you can bring us back here and go stick your head in the sand like a zebraostrich."

"Sokka! Don't be rude," Katara hissed.

Zuko shook his head. "I'll go," he said, holding Sokka's eyes steadily. "Druk can carry us that far at least. But we need supplies."

"I'll take care of that," Sokka said easily. He held out his hand, and Zuko hesitantly shook it. "Ah, no, that won't do it. We don't shake hands, we clasp forearms. Here." He took Zuko's arm and pulled him closer, till both boys clasped each other's forearm. "Just like this, grab firmly and don't shake."

"Okay," Zuko said, visibly awkward. Sokka chuckled.

"Don't worry, I won't be offended if you do it wrong, or don't do it at all," he assured him. Zuko flushed faint pink and withdrew his hand.

"Just get us supplies tomorrow while I have someone look at my eye," Zuko grumbled.

"I'll talk to Kara and Gran-gran and soothe any tensions," Katara interjected. "I'm sure they're worried about us."

"Worried about you and me, you mean. Our buddy Zuko here tore up a few tents before Druk swooped in," Sokka teased, elbowing Zuko. Zuko's frown just deepened. "Oh, come on, I'm just messing with you."

"I know," Zuko replied tartly.

\---

The three teens spent the night curled up against Druk's hot flank, sleeping more or less well. Zuko woke as soon as the sun peeked over the horizon, with Sokka and Katara not far behind, and the three set off across the tundra. The whole blindingly white landscape looked the same to Zuko, honestly, but Sokka insisted he knew where mIhe was going.

Sure enough, less than an hour later they all found themselves at the entrance to the village, thirsty and wind-chapped. Judging from the heat on his face despite the surroundings, Zuko had gotten a sunburn as well. Wonderful.

"Katara! Sokka!!" Zuko watched as an old woman burst out of the village gates and swept them up into a hug, which the water tribe teens returned happily. "Thank the spirits you're okay!"

"I'm sorry we worried you, Gran-gran," Katara said sincerely. "We're both fine. I promise."

Behind them, Zuko could see other villagers peeking warily past the wall of snow surrounding the village - women and children and elders, no young men or warriors. This wasn't right. He stifled the voice in the back of his head saying  _ this is all wrong, what happened while I was gone? How much harm has the fire nation caused in the last hundred years? _

Gran-gran pulled back, eyes shining. "You were taken by a  _ dragon,  _ Katara, how did you escape-"

She cut off abruptly, finally spotting Zuko standing back and to the side, with Druk looming at his side. He waved awkwardly. "Hello," he said, thanking Agni that his voice didn't crack on the word.

_ "You,"  _ Gran-gran said in a strangled voice.

"It's okay," Sokka said hastily. He stepped between her and Zuko, putting a hand on his shoulder. "He's not gonna wreck anything, I promise."

Zuko bowed low, fist pressed to palm, and almost stumbled forward as a wave of dizziness overtook him.

Luckily Sokka was still close and caught him before he actually fell over. "Woah, hey, you okay buddy?" he asked in a low voice. Zuko nodded briefly. Oh yeah, it had technically been a century since he'd eaten last, hadn't it? On top of that, he was still injured. He'd be amazed if he wasn't veering into the territory of being actually properly ill by this point. He straightened up, forcing himself to stuff down the dizziness and nausea and to listen to Katara as she explained the situation to her grandmother. Judging from the distrust and fear on the old woman's face she wanted him gone, but she at least heard them out before clucking in disapproval.

"What have you two gotten yourself into this time?" she demanded. Both Sokka and Katara held her eye, and she shook her head. Turning to Zuko, she said, "I'm not sure I believe you're the Avatar, young man, but I won't deny that you have some kind of craziness going on with you. If we try and treat that burn on your face, will you sit still and not destroy half the village this time?"

"Yes ma'am," Zuko said meekly.

Gran-gran huffed. "Fine. In you get. Your beast stays outside the village, though," she added firmly. Druk froze midstep, foot hovering in the air, and shot Zuko a questioning stare.

Zuko nodded. "Stay here, Druk. I'll be back," he said softly to him. Druk whined and puffed some smoke but settled into the snow, which immediately began melting around him.

\---

While Zuko was taken back to the recently repaired medicine tent (Zuko apologizing again as he went), Katara and Sokka sat in the center of the village, the same spot they'd sat yesterday afternoon. "Funny how much can change in twenty four hours, huh?" Sokka mused aloud. "Just yesterday we didn't even know the Avatar was still  _ alive, _ let alone that he was actually our local hundred and sixteen year old fire nation guy."

"Is he really a hundred and sixteen years old if he's been frozen in ice for a hundred of that?" Katara pointed out absentmindedly. She tapped her chin. "Zuko is hiding something, I just know it."

"Aw come on Katara, relax. Yesterday you were all 'Sokka we  _ have  _ to save him, oh Sokka he's  _ so _ special, don't you know who he  _ is?' _ " Sokka leaned back, examining the edge of his boomerang for any imperfections. He picked at a single chip on the edge with a fingernail. "What's changed since then that you're suddenly so distrustful?"

"It was something about his reaction to the original invasion orders, he was just  _ so sure  _ that the previous fire lord couldn't have done it," she said firmly. "I can't really put my finger on it, but I just know there's something he isn't telling us."

Sokka scoffed. "Give the guy a break. He just found out that when he went to sleep one night, he slept for a hundred years instead of eight hours. It would be enough to mess anybody up."

"I suppose," Katara said dubiously. "Still, we should be careful around him."

"Really? You were so gung-ho to head across the damn planet with the guy to learn magic water bullshit together, and now you're telling  _ me  _ to be careful?"

Katara puffed up with indignation. "It's  _ not _ magic bullshit, waterbending is a sacred and traditional art pas-"

"Passed down through the generations of the Southern Water Tribe, I know. Sheesh, I've heard it before." Sokka shook his head. "Listen, I'm not saying I disagree with you. Zuko's the Avatar but he's also a firebender, just because he's from before the war started doesn't mean he's not bad. I like the guy and I want to trust him, but we  _ can't,  _ not yet."

"That's exactly what I've been trying to say," Katara said peevishly. "You keep just rephrasing the things I'm saying."

"Eh, you were taking too long to come out with it."

She shook her head, but let it drop. "I do still want to go to the North Pole to learn waterbending," she said. At the flick of her hand, a patch of ice near their feet shifted and shimmered in the afternoon sun, but didn't rise as a globule of water like she wanted. Her brow creased in annoyance. "This is just a good opportunity, that's all."

"Even if you have to travel with a  _ firebender?" _ Sokka wiggled his fingers, miming as if fire were shooting. "You're not scared he'll attack you?"

"I don't think he will. Or at least, I hope not. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, but he doesn't  _ seem  _ like an evil Fire Nation soldier," Katara said, glancing in the direction Zuko had disappeared alongside Gran-gran. "But hey, if he tries to firebend, I can always waterbend on him and put out the flames."

"Okay, two things: one, Zuko is the Avatar," Sokka said, counting off on his fingers. "He could just bend the water back at you. Or use air or earth too. Last I checked, you've never fought an earthbender or airbender."

"Nobody alive has ever fought an airbender," Katara retorted.

"Two," Sokka continued as if she hadn't spoken, holding up a second finger, "the whole point of this trip is that you  _ learn _ how to do your magic water bullshit. How can you waterbend to put out firebending if you still need to learn waterbending in the first place, genius?"

She hesitated. "Well...I'll figure it out. Either way, I'm going. Even if I have to convince Zuko to go in the first place."

Sokka shook his head wearily. "Hey, do you really want me to come with you? I know we were all just tossing around ideas and stuff last night, but…."

"I do," Katara said with a faint smile. "Who knows what trouble you'd get into without me to keep an eye on you?"

"Excuse me," he retorted, feigning offense with a dramatic hand on his chest, "I am completely responsible! If anything, I'm going with you to keep an eye on  _ you!  _ You and Zuko, honestly. I've got to make sure he doesn't attack you. Or worse, hit on you."

"Excuse me? Hit on me??"

Sokka grinned at her mortified expression. "You two were alone in that fire nation navy ship when I found you. You weren't canoodling with the cute mystery guy, were you?"

Katara clenched her fists, face steadily turning pink. "Sokka I swear to Tui and La-"

"Listen, I get it," he continued with a wide grin, relishing in this moment the way only people with siblings could understand, "he's the only teenager you've met that you haven't grown up with, and he's cool and cute with a mysterious injury sure to leave a scar-"

He ducked the fistful of snow that Katara flung at him, guffawing, but wasn't fast enough to avoid the ice at his feet turning to slush. He sank down to his ankles with a yelp.

"Ack, Katara! Seriously, these are new boots!"

"Be glad I didn't freeze you there," she said sweetly, watching as he pulled himself free and shook the slush from his boots.

"Katara!" Both teens straightened up at the hushed gasp, turning to see Gran-gran and the newly-bandaged Zuko headed their way. Gran-gran's heavily lined face was creased in worry. "What do you think you're doing?"

The smile dropped from Katara's face. "Oh, no, I'm sorry Gran-gran," she said immediately. She clenched her hands in her coat, eyes dropping to the ground. "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

"Come with me. We need to talk in private." Gran-gran grabbed Katara's arm and pulled her away, leaving the boys alone. There was a long, awkward silence before Zuko stepped over and sank to the ground on Sokka's left. Sokka glanced over at him, taking in the fresh bandage over the left side of his face. Zuko's face - at least, what he could see of it - had gotten back a little color, which was good to see.

"How're you feeling?" Sokka asked finally, breaking the silence. He gestured at his own face. "How is the, you know…"

"Kara said my eye is fine," Zuko mumbled. He lightly touched the edge of the bandage. "But the burn is deep and is going to scar. I'll have it forever."

Sokka sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Fuck, I'm sorry dude."

Zuko just shrugged, not meeting Sokka's inquisitive look. "I expected it, to be honest, but it doesn't make it much easier to hear."

"Do you...wanna talk about it?"

"No." Zuko drew his legs closer up to his chest. "Why did your grandmother yell at Katara like that?"

"Oh, that. Well...I told you about the fire nation raids," Sokka said quietly. Zuko nodded somberly. "If word gets out that there is a waterbender here, they'll come back. I mean, they could come back anyway, but they'd for sure come here with the intention to get rid of her one way or another."

Again, Zuko's heart sank in his chest to settle somewhere around his stomach. Had the fire nation really changed so much in the time he'd been gone? Proof was here right in front of his eyes, with this war-torn village, this war-torn family, but he still wanted to believe the best of his nation. "...I see. You're protecting her."

"Of course. She's family. Mom's already gone, and dad went off to fight in the war…I don't know what I'd do if I lost her." Sokka leaned his head back to stare at the pale blue sky. "Have you got any siblings, back in the Fire Nation?"

"I have a brother. Or…I guess I  _ had _ a brother. He's dead by now." Zuko glared at the ice beneath his feet as if it had been personally responsible for his century long slumber. "It's been a hundred years. They're  _ all  _ dead, aren't they?"

Sokka instinctively reached out to put a hand on Zuko's shoulder, but thought better of it at the last second. "I can't imagine what you're going through," he said hesitantly, "but Katara and I are here for you. If you ever want to talk about it - or even if you never do - we're here. Okay?"

Zuko sighed quietly, but nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."

Sokka bumped his shoulder against Zuko's with a smile. "Hey, what are friends for?"


	4. The Southern Air Temple

A long way away from the north pole and several months earlier, a man sat outside the only tea shop in a small town deep in the western Earth Kingdom. He cradled the clay cup, relishing the heat soaking into his palms, and inhaled its wafting steam deeply. "Ahhh," Iroh sighed happily. "This is the first place I've found in ages that serves jasmine tea at  _ just _ the right temperature. Thank you, my dear," he added, smiling at the serving girl. She just nodded curtly before ducking back inside with her serving tray. Iroh returned his attention to his long-awaited cup of tea and lifted it to his lips.

"Well hello, dear uncle. I have to say, I'm a little surprised to see the once-great Dragon of the West in a hovel like this."

Iroh slowly lowered the cup and looked up to find none other than his niece, crown princess Azula herself. She put a hand on her hip and cocked her head, giving him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"Oh, hello Azula! You're looking well." Iroh gave her a smile, warm despite his clear surprise. "It's good to see you, though I'm a little surprised to see you so far from home."

Azula flicked her bangs from her face. "That's  _ Princess  _ Azula to you. And I didn't come out this far just to chat and have tea," she said, glancing with thinly veiled disgust at the tea shop.

He shrugged and took another sip of tea. "I don't suppose Fire Lord Ozai has renounced my banishment, has he?" Iroh didn't actually believe that's why his niece had come here, but it didn't hurt to hope.

Azula sneered. "Father has sent me on a mission that concerns  _ you,  _ actually. You should be honored," she said haughtily. Iroh did his best to keep the trepidation from showing on his face. "He's sent me to supervise you for a short time.  _ I  _ think it's a waste of time, babysitting a disgraced general, but he thinks you need someone to keep an eye on you."

Iroh inclined his head. "I am honored that the Fire Lord himself is concerned for my well-being after all this time," he said lightly.

"Yes, you should be. Father has requested I supervise you for one year, and after that you can go back to whatever it is you've spent the last year doing," Azula said with a dismissive glance at the tea shop. "Until then, I am personally responsible for making sure you keep to the task that you have been given."

His eyebrows shot up towards his hairline. "To find the Avatar? I'm sure I don't have to tell you that this task is purely punitive in nature. The Fire Lord does not actually want me to ever return," he said slowly.

Azula rolled her eyes. "That's not my problem," she said, examining her perfectly manicured nails. "All I have to do is keep you from making too complete of a fool of yourself, and then I get to go back to my life back home."

Iroh met her cold smile with a good-natured one of his own, and he bowed in the traditional, respectful Fire Nation way. "I look forward to traveling with you, niece."

\---

Azula stood at the ledge of the temple, hands on her hips as she stared down at the abyss shrouded in mist. Behind her, Iroh sat cross legged in front of a modest campfire. He adjusted the teapot on its iron stand. "Princess Azula, why don't you sit and have some tea?" he called over to her. "I brought some delectable tea leaves from that last village we stopped at."

She scoffed. "I'm not drinking hot leaf juice," she said scathingly. "Do you even  _ want  _ to capture the Avatar?"

Iroh bowed his head. "I have committed to this search on the hope that I may return home someday," he said sincerely. He twitched a finger at the low flames cracking under the teapot, and they swelled a few degrees warmer in response.

"Furthermore, why are we even here? Great-grandfather wiped out the lousy airbenders a century ago, there should be nobody at all, never mind the Avatar." Azula flipped her bangs impatiently. "All that's left is this crummy ruin."

"Finding the Avatar and capturing them might be easier than one thinks." Iroh poured himself a cup of the tea and drank appreciatively. "Besides, as crown princess it would do you well to travel and see the world."

"Yes, Father would agree with you on that one thing," Azula sniffed. "I would do just fine traveling like the heir to the crown normally would, instead of being stuck with  _ you." _

"Ah, but just think of the sights we will see over the next year together! For instance, despite the western air temple being a ruin," Iroh said excitedly, gesturing around them, "its unique structure has kept it superbly well hidden from the rest of the world, so it has remained remarkably protected from time and the elements. We're probably the first people to come here since the day of the invasions."

"I don't know about you, but  _ I _ didn't come here for an archaeology lesson," Azula said testily.

"Fair enough." Iroh shrugged, sipping his tea. "As for what we do next, I would like to check each air temple in turn. The Avatar would have had to seek out an airbending master at some point, yes? If we find who their master may have been, we may find a hint as to where they went next. And in between, we will be able to see what treasures the world has to offer."

"I'm already rich, more money would hardly do me any good."

"Ah, it's not monetary treasure I look forward to, but  _ emotional  _ treasure." Iroh smiled widely. "We will see the natural splendor of the world, along with many handmade treasures. Who knows, perhaps we will encounter something from the spirit world as well!"

Azula scoffed. "Whatever. I'm already counting the weeks until I get to go home. Since I actually  _ can." _

Iron's smile didn't dim at all in the face of her sneer and cutting words. "Until then, I hope you will enjoy your time traveling with me."

\---

Katara and Sokka had both been wary of riding to the southern air temple on Druk's back - despite it being Sokka's idea in the first place - but it wasn't actually so bad in the end. Druk was large enough and with wide-enough spikes that sitting on him wasn't too uncomfortable. At least, for everyone except Sokka. "You know, I know this was my idea, but I'm a little less comfortable with flying on dragonback a hundred meters above the ocean," he called over the freezing wind, huddling himself into his fur coat. "How do you know he won't drop us?"

"Druk would never drop us," Katara retorted. She patted Druk's side affectionately, and Sokka yelped as Druk wiggled happily under the touch. "You wouldn't drop us, would you, boy?" she cooed at the reptile.

"Druk hasn't dropped anybody in ages," Zuko called back from the front. "Not since he was just learning to fly."

"Oh that sure makes me feel better," Sokka grumbled. "I think I prefer my feet on the ice, thank you."

"Don't be a weenie," Katara said with a grin. "Flying is fun."

"Speak for yourself!"

"We're almost to the southern air temple. Hold on," Zuko called. Sokka tightened his grip on the spike in front of him, clenching his legs around Druk as the dragon tilted downwards. His stomach flopped and his heart jumped into his throat as all four of them plummeted out of the sky. They dropped into a cloud, and for a moment they could see nothing except gray. But then…

"Woah," Sokka gasped. "I didn't know buildings could be so... _ tall." _

The towers of the southern air temple soared impressively high into the sky, even considering that it had been built on the peak of a mountain. There were a few connective bridges, but for the most part each was separate, dotted with ledges and balconies. Perfect for a culture who had laughed at gravity and soared through the air as if they were birds.

"We should be prepared to be turned away," Zuko said, twisting to look back at Sokka and Katara. "They probably won't let us in."

"Who won't?" Sokka asked.

"The air nomads? They don't really ever let outsiders into their temples. Has that changed over the last century too?" Zuko glanced back at the other two when there was no immediate answer. Both water tribe teenagers avoided his eye. "Or will you finally tell me what's going on?"

"You should land," Sokka said finally. "It'll be easier to show you."

A vein twitched in Zuko's clenched jaw, but he held his tongue and turned back to the front. He couldn't afford to alienate his only allies at the moment...and they'd already suffered enough because of the Fire Nation. He didn't need to add to that. "Hang on," he said tersely.

A moment later Druk alighted on the largest balcony, and all three teens slid from his back with varying groans of pain and stiffness. "Geez, do you ever get used to the chafing?" Sokka complained loudly. He gingerly peeled the cloth of his pants away from his skin where it had stuck. "I think if the flight had taken any longer, Druk's scales would've rubbed the skin off my thighs like a blubberseal getting skinned for jerky."

Despite his lingering bad mood, Zuko couldn't help curiosity getting the better of him. "Blubberseal...jerky?" he asked hesitantly. Sokka's pout vanished immediately.

"Oh, I have some, hold on-" He dug through his bag for a moment before holding up a chunk of what looked like stiff, over-tanned leather. "Blubberseal jerky! It's easy to make and super nutritious, and it's not too hard to get used to the taste. Wanna try some? Old lady Adda gave it to me yesterday, she makes the best jerky in the whole south pole."

"I'm...good," Zuko said with a forced smile. He glanced around, slowly turning on the spot. "The temple is...quieter than I expected. Where is everybody?"

"Yeah Sokka, where is everyone?" Katara said challengingly. Sokka shot her a glare and cleared his throat.

"Listen, Zuko," he began, "I don't know how much you know about the fire nation armies-"

"Probably more than you give me credit for," Zuko interrupted wryly.

"Maybe so, but the southern water tribe wasn't the first place the fire nation hit during the initial assault."

The only change in Zuko's expression was the minute narrowing of the golden eye not still covered in a bandage. Okay, maybe he wasn't following. Sokka took a breath and opted for the more direct approach.

"Before the fire nation began its raids on us, they attacked the air nomads," Sokka said somberly. It could just be the cold mountain air, but Zuko's already pale skin slid a shade more pasty, even as clouds plunged the sir temple into dim gloom. "They didn't stand a chance."

"Tell me they ran." It wasn't begging, not really, but it was close. "The air nomads don't have anything to defend against an army."

Katara shook her head solemnly. "We told you how bad things were for us. The air nation is  _ gone.  _ The fire nation killed every last air nomad."

Zuko's breathing had gone erratic, hanging in front of him in silver clouds. He clenched his fists at his sides to quench the flames begging to burst free into the mountain air. "I don't...understand," he ground out. "They can't  _ all  _ be gone. They just can't. An entire nation? The fire nation can't have done that. That's too much."

Sokka and Katara shared another grim look. "I know it sounds bad," Sokka began.

"Sounds bad? It IS bad," Katara hissed. Sokka flinched and gave a conceding nod.

"Alright, fine, it's bad. It's really bad."

"Are you going somewhere with this?" Zuko interrupted. "I swear if you try and tell me 'everything will turn out fine'..."

"I mean, we hope it will. Someday, maybe. It's hard to have hope when you're born into a decades long war," Sokka admitted, rubbing his hands up his arms as if to rub away the gloom that had crept over them.

"Well, it is with that attitude."

The unfamiliar voice made all three teenagers jump, and they twisted around to see a figure standing high above them on a ledge. The old man smiled benignly and waved.

"Hello kiddos! Would you care for some onion and banana juice?" he called.

Sokka and Katara shot each other a wary - and grossed out - glance. Zuko, however, slumped in relief.

"What the hell kind of game are you two playing?" he said furiously to them. He jabbed a finger up at the old man. "The airbenders aren't dead!"

"Wh..? Yes they are!" Katara retorted. "They haven't been around for almost a century!"

"No offense, but we weren't the ones taking an ice nap for a hundred years," Sokka added. "We would know if they were alive or not."

"That's bullshit!  _ There's one right there!" _

"Oh, don't argue on my behalf," the old man called down at them. "You're both right."

All three teenagers turned to stare at him. The man lifted a foot and stepped off the ledge into thin air.

Zuko, Sokka, and Katara all shouted in alarm. The sun burst out of the clouds at the same moment and they had to squint against the sudden, blinding light; a gust of wind raced through the courtyard, and when all three teens' eyes had adjusted, the old man stood in front of them, seemingly no worse for wear after falling thirty feet onto stone. Up close, they could all see the blue arrow tattooed onto his forehead, arcing back over his shaved head to disappear into the collar of his pale yellow robes. He gave them all a placid smile.

"Welcome to the southern air temple," he said breezily. "My name is Aang. What brings you kids here?"

"We, uh," Sokka stammered.

"We came to see the airbenders," Zuko interrupted. He gave Sokka and Katara an annoyed glare with his good eye. Aang meanwhile sidestepped them all to walk up to Druk, who watched him with a curious eye. Aang reached up to pet Druk right on the snout. " _ Someone  _ said they were all gone."

The smile on Aang's face faded into something more contemplative. "I see," he mused. He moved to reach the corner of Druk's jaw, and the dragon rumbled happily as the old man's nimble fingers scratched the dry, thinly scaled spot right behind the jawbone. "I suppose you kids are here on sightseeing, are you?"

"No, of course not!" Katara said, stepping forward. "But Zuko here-"

Aang raised a hand to cut her off. "The airbenders are here," he told them. "I'll bring you to them. Follow me." And with that he set off across the courtyard at a quicker pace than one would expect for such an old man. Zuko, Katara, and Sokka all shared a confused glance before following at a jog. Behind them, Druk opted to curl up like an owlcat on the sun-warmed stone of the courtyard.

He led them through an alley between two buildings, shaded by climbing vines that cast them into dappled, shifting shadows. Down a flight of stairs, over a bridge spanning a dizzying huge cliff drop, through another courtyard in the center of a tall circular building with five stories and hundreds of doors. The entire time, they didn't see another soul or even hear the sounds of people. Zuko remained grimly silent, while Sokka and Katara stared around with wide eyes.

That final building seemed to be the outer limit of the air temple, because past a final small doorway came nothing but pasture. Short, scrubby grass covered the field, swaying erratically in the mountain wind. In the center stood a huge tree, twisted and gnarled with most of its leaves already dropped for the approaching winter.

"Well, where are the airbenders?" Zuko demanded. Aang smiled again, soft and sad, and gestured with a hand to the field.

"Here they are, every one of the southern air benders," he said, voice barely carrying over the mountain wind. 

Sokka leaned close to Katara. "He's senile," he whispered loudly into her ear. She smacked his arm in response. "Ow!"

"Excuse me, Aang, but I don't understand," she said, stepping forward. "There's nobody there. Have you been here by yourself for very long?"

Aang tilted his head back to look at the sky. "Yes, for a while," he answered. "Not as long as you probably think, though."

"Forget this," Zuko burst out. He stepped forward and jabbed a finger into Aang's chest. The old man didn't react. "We didn't come here to indulge some crazy old man. We came here to see the airbenders to prove the fire nation didn't kill them all like  _ you two,"  _ Zuko glared daggers at them, "are telling me."

"They're not lying to you," Aang said calmly. His watery gray eyes dropped from the clouds back to Zuko's bandaged, furious face. "The airbenders are gone. The fire nation did indeed invade and kill everyone they found here. The masters, the artisans, the pupils, the newborns. All of them."

"Then why did you bring us here?" Katara said quietly. "You said they're dead, but that they're here. Which is it?"

Aang closed his eyes, but Sokka figured it out before the man could speak. "It's a graveyard," he said quietly. Everyone turned to look at him, but it was Aang's eyes he met. "They're buried here, aren't they?"

He didn't nod, but Aang's bowed head was answered enough. "After the invasion, I buried them all by hand," he said somberly. "Air nomads don't use gravestones or tombs or even caskets, we're buried in only a shroud and allow our bodies to return to nature. This is where I brought them all to rest."

"That doesn't make sense. The fire nation didn't kill all the air nomads," Zuko protested. He ran a hand through his hair frustratedly. "They just couldn't. Could they?"

"Young man, the world has changed a lot in the past hundred years," Aang said gently but firmly. 

Zuko's head shot up. "How did you know…?"

Aang gave a thin smile. "It's not difficult to tell. How'd you manage to avoid the century?"

"Ice," Zuko deadpanned. Aang just nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe I should try that, avoid any more wrinkles." He prodded at the deep lines of his face. "But that's neither here nor there. As much as I enjoy company, I'm going to have to ask you three and your dragon to leave. We don't traditionally allow outsiders into the temple, and I'm not going to break that tradition any more than strictly necessary."

Katara grabbed Zuko's arm and dragged him forward. "Please, Zuko is the Avatar," she pleaded. "You seem to know your way around here, do you know of any scrolls or anything that could teach airbending? We're on our way to the north pole for him and I both to learn waterbending, but if you know anything-"

Zuko jerked his arm from Katara's grip. "What are you doing?" he hissed. She turned to scowl right into his face.

"It's the truth! You need to master all four elements to end the war and bring peace to the world, it would be stupid to waste this opportunity," she retorted.

"I hate to say it, but Katara has a point," Sokka said. "It doesn't hurt to ask."

"I will  _ not  _ let you see any airbending scrolls." Aang's eyes narrowed.

"Okay, maybe it  _ does  _ hurt to ask," Sokka mumbled.

"But  _ why?  _ Zuko is the Avatar, he needs to learn!" Katara said hotly.

"No!" Aang sliced his hand through the air. "It's not up for debate. So much is gone already, I won't risk losing those too."

"This is why the Fire Lord did it." Sokka, Katara, and Aang all turned to stare at Zuko, and he might have blushed if he didn’t feel like he was about to throw up. “To stop the next Avatar - from  _ me _ \- from learning airbending. And if I had actually died back then, died instead of being frozen, then the next Avatar wouldn’t have been born into the air nomads. Maybe the Avatar cycle would be broken, or maybe it would’ve skipped to the water tribe.”

“Which was periodically raided to kill or capture any waterbenders,” Katara added sadly.

Zuko stared down at his hands. “All this happened - so many people dead or hurt - because the Avatar wasn’t there to stop it.”

Sokka set his hand on Zuko’s shoulder. “It’s not your fault,” he said quietly. Zuko shrugged the hand away.

“If you won’t show us the airbending scrolls, we’ll find another way,” Zuko said, staring down his nose at Aang. The old man met his stare evenly, not backing down an inch. “We’re going to the north pole for Katara and I to learn waterbending. After that, we’re going to come back. At that point, I  _ need _ to learn airbending.”

“Not a bad plan, but I have a better idea. You need an airbending teacher, yes?” Aang smiled faintly. “That’ll be me.”


End file.
